Monday, March 8, 2010

Sports and Hollywood: Chicago Sports most Famous Fans

While watching Hollywood congratulate themselves last night during the Academy Awards my mind started drifting towards sports, as it usually does. When Demi Moore walked on stage, one of the first things I thought of was her and Ashton Kutcher going to Bears game. This thought then lead me down the path of, who is the most famous fan for each team in Chicago (I’ll throw in IU too, if Ryan wants to add Illinois, Fodor NU etc.)

Chicago White Sox



I’ll start off with the easiest team first. The White Sox most famous fan is the First fan, President Barak Obama. After Bernie Mac died, the void for famous fan was quickly filled by President Obama. On the campaign trail, when asked about Cubs or Sox, he didn’t give a political answer, he gave the typical White Sox answer of, People on the south side watch the game, northsiders go to have a good time. When he threw out the first pitch of the 2009 All-Star game, guess what jersey he was wearing, yup White Sox. Other famous White Sox fans: Simpson Creator Matt Groening

Chicago Cubs

As you all know, I am not a Cubs fan, so I could be way off on this. The Cubs most famous fan is, Bill Murray. Bill Murray regularly attends games, and occasionally watches them from the bleachers. I have him beating out John Cusack because of clips like the SNL debate where Bill Murray asked that candidates how they will prevent the Cubs from losing again. Other famous Cubs fans: Vince Vaughn, Ferris Buehler,




Chicago Bears

I believe Ashton Kutcher is the most famous Bears fan. He can be seen at multiple games a year with Demi. He wears his Bears hat around Hollywood and even to Lakers
games that he attends. I’ve heard him on national Sports shows, where all he will talk about his entire segment is Bears and not about a movie he is trying to pitch. Other famous fans: Demi Moore, but more because of Ashton. Vince Vaughn, Jim Belushi (is that a good thing?)




Chicago Blackhawks




This was a tough one, but in the end I went with Vince Vaughn. He is probably Chicago sport’s most famous fan right now, because he seems to attend more games then everyone else. He has been seen at multiple Blackhawks games, we already knows He likes hockey (link).

Chicago Bulls

Even though he’s not around as much anymore it’s has to be Michael Jordan. Since he is a GM/Owner of another team, he might lose this status. But anytime Michael was in attendance at any game, it was a story. The TV camera’s stay on him as much as the action on the court. He is a larger the life person in Chicago.

IU

Has to be John Cougar Mellencamp. We all know the story, he grew up in a nearby town of Seyborn, and started playing at the Bluebird before he made it big. He still regularly attends games which always gets applause from the crowd. Other famous fans: Mark Cuban, Doc Rivers, Stephen Noffke, Mark Fodor

U of I

I’m going to throw My U of I pick out there too. I say MJ, but I only saw him once at that was at the Maui Invitational and we are still unsure if he was there to see his son, or if he happened to be playing golf there while his son was playing. I do find it funny that MJ, Bobcats GM, is too busy to come to Illini games, while Doc Rivers is coaching the Celtics and has showed up to so many games that I got sick of the, Did you know Jeremiah is Doc’s son? Storylines. Other Illinois fans, Hugh Hefner, but he doesn’t come back to Chicago/Illinois often if ever. He does have other distractions so I think it’s ok.


I’m sure I missed tons of fans, and probably a big name or two, but weigh in with your thoughts below.

6 comments:

  1. Carthage: Lovie smith, one of his sons was an assistant coach for the football team. I personally never witnessed it but he has been on campus a few times.

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  2. His son WAS an assitant coach, so does that mean he no longer is?

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  3. The head coach was Ron Turner's son. Heh heh heh...

    The problem with Northwestern celebs is that most of them are in news or media which means they are obligated to be objective. Wilbon is the prime example of this.

    When we went to the Rose Bowl, David Schwimmer (another Medill grad) was all over the place, but I haven't heard much of him since.

    There are a million SI/ESPN writers with NU backgrounds. OH! You know who else was a legit football fan and alum? Charleton Heston. No joke.

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  4. Found a site which lists Dwyane Wade, Ed Asner, and Gary Sinise (that's right - Lieutenant Dan!) as other celebrity bears fans.

    http://www.footballbabble.com/football/fans/celebrity/

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  5. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/060614

    eddie vedder (grew up in evanston) a bulls fan.

    AND HOW COULD YOU FORGET MAYOR DALEY FOR THE SOX????

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  6. I sort of think MJ for Illinois is cheap. I'd have to say Hefner. While he may not go to the games too often, he does consistently embody the college spirit by having three wives and producing a porn magazine. And by college spirit I mean the hope that each young boy attending any fine college has.

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